Junot Diaz's How To Date A Brown Girl

Famed Japanese video game creator Shigeru Miyamoto is famously quoted, “Video games are bad for you? That's what they said about rock-n-roll.” While the backlash against Rock- and Roll music has much subsided, the video game industry has come under increasing scrutiny for its addictive qualities. Consistent video game play has been linked to increasing child hood obesity rates worldwide. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that almost 18% of US teens are obese, linking this statistic to high rates of inactivity from television and video game consumption. The World Health Organization has overweight youngsters were 20 % more likely to spend at least two hours on the games a day. This increase in childhood obesity has
The narrator is an urban Latino teenager. Through out the story his voice is cocky and self-assured; as to solidify that he is the voice of authority when it comes to bedding girls. Despite the narrator’s young age, he presents himself as experienced with all kinds of girls, racially categorizing their level of inhibition and the amount of effort they require. He talks as though he is sexually knowledgeable, but as he continues to talk about his involvements, it becomes apparent that he probably has had few if any actual sexual encounters. Most of his comments are based on stereotypes or fixed ideas about behavioral attributes that some groups possess describing, “ a local girl … won’t be quick in letting you touch,” and “… a white girl might just give it up right then. Don’t stop her.” Although the narrator adopts this mildly offensive machismo persona, it is clear that underneath there are definite self-esteem issues with is ethnicity and socioeconomic status. The narrator gives clear instructions such as, “Clear the government cheese from the refrigerator” or “ Hide the pictures of yourself with an afro” as to tell the reader in order to be successful with girls, he must complete hide any trace of his ethnicity or poverty. In these moments the reader can sympathize with the speaker, understanding that he is trying to gain respect as a man, using these relationships to mend his fragile self-image. The narrator’s outlook on the feminine gender can be misinterpreted as offensive, however Diaz uses this character to subtlety highlight the experiences of an immigrant teenager coming of age, trying to form a new identity to build self